Educational Materials

This booklet was published for introducing promotionalactivitiesimplemented byACCU as the ASPnet Secretariat. It’s for everyone who engage inESDto enable them to take primary step, such as those who have sufficientunderstandingand hope to progress activities or have interest in ESD but, don’tknow how to startactivities.Looking forward to meetingyou through this booklet.

UNESCO Associated Schools and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

Overview

This is the book about ESD (Education for Sustainable Development)published by the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO.

For

Author

The Japanese National Commission for UNESCO

Table of Contents

1.What is Education Sustainable Development (ESD)?

2. Objectives of ESD

3. International Cooperation on ESD

4. Japan’s Cooperation on ESD

5. Examples of Expected ESD activities

6. UNESCO Associated Schools

7. Let’s Join UNESCO Associated Schools!

8. Voices of UNESCO Associated Schools

9. How to Apply to UNESCO Associated Schools (ASPnet)

10. Building Sustainable Frameworks of ESD Practice

11. About ASPUnivNet

12. UNESCO-related Institutions in Japan

13. UNESCO Associated Schools in Japan

14. For Corporations Interested in Supporting ESD

15.Reference Educational Materials

Contact

Office of the Director-General for International Affairs,Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology(Secretariat of the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO)Tel: +81-3-5253-4111 (Extension:3402, 2602) Fax: +81-3-6734-3679Address: 3-2-2, Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, TokyoWebsite: http://www.mext.go.jp/english/unesco/E-mail: jpnatcom@mext.go.jp

Schools in Action Global Citizens for Sustainable Development: A guide for Students

Overview

UNESCO has been advocating and promoting ESD (Education forSustainable Development) and GCED (Global Citizenship Education) to enable us,living in a complicated, interconnected and interdependent world, to beequipped with sufficient abilities for solving various kinds of global issues.

This guide book for students shows ideas to explain meaning ofbecoming Global Citizenship as well as how to contribute to SustainableDevelopment and take action for that purpose. It also introduces good practicesin UNESCO Schools in each country.

Schools in Action Global Citizens for Sustainable Development: A guide for Teachers

Overview

UNESCO has been advocating and promoting ESD (Education forSustainable Development) and GCED (Global Citizenship Education) as educationfor students, living in a complicated, interconnected and interdependent world,aiming their acquisition of sufficient abilities for solving various kinds ofglobal issues.

This guide book for teachers explains outline of these educationsand shows ideas for classroom activities. It also introduces good practices inUNESCO Schools in each country.

Let’s think about the future of UNESCO Associated Schools / Whole School Approach

Overview

A workshop on the quality improvements of UNESCO AssociatedSchools entitled “Think about future UNESCO Associated Schools” (FY 2015 Japan/UNESCO Partnership Project, Organizers: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,Science and Technology, JAPAN and Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO(ACCU)) was held on 4th December 2015, the day before Japan’s NationalConference oneness ASP net.

The workshop consisted of two sessions. In the first session, theparticipants learnt about the whole school approach from Ms. Ann Finlayson, anESD and sustainable school expert invited from UK. In the second session, basedon the suggestion of teachers from UNESCO Associated Schools, who participatedin workshop planning, to “establish and mutually learn through a domesticnetwork,” the participants exchanged opinions about what they wanted toaccomplish through the network. The summary of the workshop is compiled in thisbooklet.

This booklet is a compilation of activities implemented for the“ESD Food Project”, an international collaborative project carried out by ACCUentrusted by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology asa part of the FY 2015 Japan/UNESCO Partnership Project.

During the ESD Food Project, students conducted their activitiesas “agents of change”, with the common theme of “food” in order to make their communitieswhere their schools are located, their countries, and the whole world a moresustainable society.

The project was implemented between September 2015 and the end ofJanuary 2016 with the participation of seven schools from Japan and five schoolsfrom India.

This year marks the middle year of the United Nations’ “Decade ofEducation for Sustainable Development” (DESD). Miyagi University of Educationis taking this occasion to reflect on its results to date and consider itsmoves for the remaining five years of the DESD. To that end, we are publishinga new newsletter, Linkage.

The ability to create linkage is vital for the University’smission of educating the educators of the future. Linkage is vital to thedevelopment of capable teachers, strongly endowed with the virtues ofbig-picture perspective, critical thought, holistic thought, partnership andcollaboration.

Membership in ProsPER.Net, ASPnet, provides the University with apowerful tool forfulfilling its mission as a teacher training institution.TAMURA Tetsuo (Mr.),chair of the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO,agreed to devote hiskeynote address, given at the ESD International Symposiumconducted in February2009, to the subject of linkage. We hope Mr. Tamura’saddress will serve to bolster the spread and activity of ASPnet.

Miyagi University of Education has been active in ESD on a widerange of fronts since2001, signing a Memorandum of Partnership and Cooperationwith several boards of education (Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, KesennumaCity, Iwanuma City,Kurihara City) and local government bodies (Tome City,Yagiyama Zoo (Sendai),Sendai Astronomical Observatory) for this purpose. Wecontinue to maintain variety of such partnerships and are doing our part towarda sustainable society.

At Miyagi University of Education, we grapple with modern issuesin education faced by regional communities and schools through four researchcenters: the Environmental Education Center, the Center for Clinic inEducation, the Special Needs Education Research Center and the Research Centerfor Education in International Understanding. Also, to instil in our studentsthe ability solve the problems confronting modern society, we have establisheda course in Modern Issues in ESD Curriculums.

Our commitment to international networks is reflected in our roleas executive office for Greater Sendai Area ESD Project (the Initial Seven, thefirst seven RCEs established worldwide by the United Nations University topromote ESD). Wearer also proud members of ProSPER.Net (an academic networkdevoted to ESD)established by the United Nations University-Institute of AdvancedStudies with the aim of collaborating and cooperating with other organs ofadvanced study in Asia.

Moreover, to provide support to UNESCO ASPnet, the University has organizedASPUnivNet, a grouping of eight outstanding institutions nationwide (HokkaidoUniversity of Education Kushiro Campus (ESD Promotion Center); IwateUniversity; Graduate School for Environmental Studies, Tohoku University;Department of Education,Tama University; Kanazawa University; Nara Universityof Education; OkayamaUniversity; and this University). We aim to support asmany UNESCO Associated Schools and candidate schools as possible, and to widenthe circle of participating universities.

Nara is filled with wonderful things. We created this book in theheartfelt desire that as many people as possible can learn about all theincredible treasures Nara has to offer.

In 1998, eight sites in Nara (Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji, Kasuga-Taisha,Kasugayama Primeval Forest, Gango-ji, Yakushi-ji, Toshodai-ji and the NaraPalace Site) were registered as World Heritage sites under the title “HistoricMonuments of Ancient Nara.” The history and culture of Nara is collectivelyrecognised as told through these ancient treasures, and we have to preservethem for future generations as the shared heritage of mankind.

Ofcourse, these eight Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara are only some of thewonders to experience in Nara. There are other cultural treasures, naturalscenery and traditional culture that deserve careful preservation, and theremust be similar treasures where you live. Such things are due to the hard workand wishes of the people who have supported them to this day. Open your eyes toyour own heritage, and to love your home cities and regions as the people ofNara love theirs

As of May 2009, Kesennuma City boasts 16 UNESCO AssociatedSchools, with another 10 schools applying for the same status. This means thata majority of schools in Kesennuma are UNESCO Associated Schools. Moreover, inFebruary 2009, the city hosted the UNESCO Associated Schools InternationalForum on ESD in Kesennuma 2009. Kesennuma invited school teachers andspecialists from throughout Japan, China and South Korea, to forge strongerties with the rest of Asia through the practice of ESD.

Kesennuma could not have become such active for ESD were it notfor the hard work and dedication of its teachers, as well as strongpartnerships with the city’s Board of Education, professional organisations andthe region. The importance of these factors is abundantly clear from the pagesof Mobius.

Mobius gathers in a single narrative the dramatic educationalchanges in Kesennuma from 2002 to 2009. The Japanese and English versions ofthe book can be downloaded in PDF format here.

"A Guide to International Cooperation for High SchoolStudents" records the activities of a municipal school in Akita, AkitaCommercial High School, in the fields of education for InternationalUnderstanding and International Cooperation. As part of the school’s “businesspracticum,” its “International Cooperation Section” which consists of thestudents and teachers joined hands with the Japan International CooperationAgency (JICA) Tohoku Branch to undertake projects in these fields. This bookalso includes proposals from people who worked on the front lines ofinternational cooperation and journalism, the students and teachers, exploringthe question, “What can I do as an individual to solve such global problems aspoverty, starvation and climate change?”

Publishing this book was unexpectedly in adherence with the spiritof the resolution to declare a “United Nations Decade of Education forSustainable Development” proposed by the Japanese government and adopted by theUnited Nations General Assembly. With UNESCO as the lead organization in thisprogramme, the resolution called for a series of educational andawareness-raising activities to be carried out from 2005 to 2014, both informal education and non-formal education, to promote sustainable development.These activities became known as education for sustainable development, or ESD.According to a National Action Plan developed by a liaison conference ofrelated government departments and agencies, the objective of ESD is “to thinkfrom a global perspective, grapple with a wide range of problems as one’s ownissues, doing what one can starting with one’s nearby environs, to educatepeople in the importance of creating a sustainable society and change oneselfin both thought and action. "A Guide to International Cooperation for HighSchool Students" shares these objectives.

For

High-school students, general public

Author

Business Practice and International Cooperation Section, Akita Commercial High School, Akita City